We have a 14 place resource base for children with a diagnosis of Developmental Language Disorder (DLD).

To be eligible for a place in the Resource Base, your child must have an Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP).

The children are taught in two classes, both of which are mixed age. In each class there are only 7 children taught at a time. In each class there is a Teacher and Teaching Assistant to help support your child.

Vision

• To provide specialist teaching and therapeutic Speech and Language (S&L) support for children with Speech Language and Communication Needs (SLCN)
• To work to a high professional standard to provide an environment where children with SLCN make good and outstanding progress especially in Speech, language and communication

Environment

• The children feel emotionally safe
• Language rich
• Evidence of specialist language support
• Time given to communicate successfully verbally and non-verbally
• Enhanced listening environment – close to teacher/ facing teacher

Planning

• Adapted to support the needs of the child taking into account specific speech and language targets whilst ensuring access to curriculum entitlement
• Liaison with mainstream teachers to support learning
• Liaison with speech and language therapists to support learning and language development
• Multisensory approaches to stimulate, engage and support children with their learning

Teaching

• Small groups and one-to-one
• Team teaching with speech and language therapists
• Emphasis on teaching language skills – phonic awareness, expressive language, vocabulary, specific grammar, comprehension, repetition of key concepts
• Concepts delivered in language children can access and new learning continually broken down into small, achievable steps
• Prompting with cues
• Opportunities to integrate with mainstream children to meet child’s specific needs
• Real-life experiences – use of real objects in teaching and trips and visits to reinforce learning

Assessment

• Regular access to speech and language assessments to underpin academic progress
• Standardised tests to measure small steps of progress
• Immediate verbal feedback given to children during the lesson
• Use technology (e.g. digital cameras) and observation to record work and progress
• Regular feedback and meetings with parents/ carers

Resources

• Specialist resources e.g. shape coding, cued articulation
• Use of visual prompts
• Use of Widgit software to create visual/ symbol support for learning

Speech and Language Therapy

• Specific speech and language programmes carried out with individual children by therapists and school staff
• Group teaching of: oro-motor skills, phonological awareness, narrative, social skills etc.

Multidisciplinary Approach

• Collaboration between staff and other professionals to meet the individual needs of the child: Health, Local Authority, Community
• Liaison with professionals from other schools to aid transition to and from the SLCN base
• Regular communication with parents and carers

Professionalism

• Adults trained in specific approaches to teaching children with SLCN
• Ongoing CPD to keep up to date with latest research/ strategies
• Adults model and disseminate expertise and good practice to mainstream colleagues